1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil absorbing tissue for cosmetic use. More particularly, it relates to an oil absorbing cosmetic tissue for absorbing facial oil before application of makeup.
2. Description of the Related Art
Considerable skin oil is discharged from the face, particularly around the nose, chin, and between the eyebrows. This makes those areas oily and can easily ruin the makeup applied thereon.
When makeup is applied on the skin with the oil still present, the makeup does not take to the skin well. It is therefore better in view of the cosmetic effect to apply the makeup only after removing the oil.
For this reason, the general practice when applying makeup is to first press or wipe the oily portion of the face with oil absorbing cosmetic tissue to remove oil. Various cosmetic tissues have been marketed for this purpose. The commercially available oil absorbing cosmetic tissues are generally comprised of plant fibers having an oil absorbing property. For example, hemp fibers have an excellent oil absorbing property.
To enhance marketability, it is not only necessary that the cosmetic tissue absorb the oil, but also that the user can visually confirm that the oil is absorbed. To facilitate confirmation of the oil absorbing effect, it has been proposed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 56-8606 to mix transparent synthetic resin fibers together with the nontransparent oil absorbing plant fibers so that, when the oil is absorbed, the relevant portion of the tissue becomes transparent. Oil absorbing cosmetic tissue of that type has already been marketed. It has also been proposed to coat the surface of the oil absorbing cosmetic tissue with silica, talc, and other inorganic powder.
As seen above, in the past, the emphasis on an oil absorbing cosmetic tissue has been on improvements in the oil absorbing property and the confirmability of the oil absorbing effect.
Besides the oil, however, there is a large amount of bacteria present on the skin. These bacteria normally do not have any detrimental effect on the skin, but when skin oil accumulates due to enlargement or proliferation of sebaceous glands or corneousness of hair follicle pores, acne bacillus, skin staphyloccus, and the like proliferate, and decompose the triglycerides among the oil components from the skin. Thus, the triglycerides are converted to free fatty acids.
Triglycerides themselves do not afford an adverse effect on the skin, but the free fatty acids formed by the decomposition of the triglycerides due to the bacteria damage the cells forming the skin, inducing inflammation. In actuality, according to "Keshohin Gaku" (Cosmetics) (Tetsusaku Ikeda, published Mar. 1, 1983 from Nanzando), it has been found that the oil of acne-ridden skin contains a large amount of free fatty acids and little triglycerides. Therefore, while the bacteria is not a direct cause of acne, it does aggravate small pimples and create acne along with inflammation.
While, as mentioned above, improvements have been made to oil absorbing cosmetic tissue with respect to the oil absorbing property itself and to the confirmability of the oil absorbing effect, nothing has been done to positively suppress the proliferation of bacteria so as to reduce the adverse effect of bacteria on the skin.